Let me start out by saying there are a lot of good people in the chemicals industry and in the cosmetics industry. But, as Annie Leonard points out in her newest eye-opener The Story of Cosmetics: the “system is broken”. Most people remain unaware just how broken the system is, trusting that the government takes care for their safety. Is Annie Leonard’s newest foray into battle the tipping point for change?

Like previous projects Leonard has undertaken, The Story of Cosmetics is simplistic; it suffers from portraying in black-and-white, literally and figuratively, a situation nuanced in grey. But simple is understandable. This short animated cartoon speaks in plain English, putting the burden of responsibility where it belongs: on the people who put the products on the shelf, not the people who take them off the shelf.